US court bars election conditions on counterterrorism grant funding
A federal judge in Washington has prevented the Trump administration from making local governments comply with disputed election-administration rules before receiving Homeland Security Grant Program money. The case was brought by local authorities who argued that counterterrorism funding could not be used to control voting equipment, audits or voter-registration procedures.
A US federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from tying counterterrorism grant funding to changes in how local governments administer elections. The ruling concerns the Homeland Security Grant Program, which provides money to state and local authorities to prevent and respond to terrorism and other security threats. Local governments in Tennessee, Texas and Ohio challenged requirements imposed by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FEMA had attached five election-related conditions to fiscal year 2026 funding. The conditions addressed voting equipment, post-election audits, ballot reconciliation, citizenship checks in voter-registration databases and citizenship checks for election workers. The funding notice required jurisdictions to submit plans to move away from electronic voting systems using bar codes or QR codes to count ballots and toward equipment accepting hand-marked paper ballots.
It also required a five per cent manual audit and reconciliation of voters with ballots cast. Recipients were further told to use the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, or SAVE, or another authorised government system, to check citizenship information. The local governments said FEMA planned to withhold 20 per cent of each state’s grant award until the conditions were met.
They argued that Congress had created the programme to address terrorism and related security threats, not to regulate elections. The lawsuit was initially filed by Nashville, Harris County, El Paso County and Columbus. Dallas County and Travis County later joined the case.
The plaintiffs argued that the conditions exceeded FEMA’s statutory authority and violated constitutional principles, including federalism and the Spending Clause. Judge Amir H. Ali’s order prevents the administration from conditioning the grants on the challenged election changes while the litigation continues.
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